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Read Ebook: The Tale of Grumpy Weasel Sleepy-Time Tales by Bailey Arthur Scott Smith Harry L Illustrator
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Ebook has 490 lines and 18103 words, and 10 pages
Usually Grumpy Weasel did not stray far from a certain corner of Farmer Green's wood lot. He preferred to hunt where he knew the lay of the land. And since he liked especially to hunt along old stone walls, he picked out a long stretch of old tumble-down wall that reached through the woods towards Blue Mountain.
He picked it out as his very own hunting ground and never asked permission of Farmer Green, either.
Now, near the lower end of this wall--the end toward the pasture--a fat person known as Mr. Meadow Mouse sometimes wandered. But he never visited that spot without first inquiring whether Grumpy Weasel had been there the day before. Mr. Meadow Mouse had learned somehow that Grumpy usually moved on each day to a different part of his hunting ground. He was surprised, therefore, to meet Grumpy Weasel face to face one time, when he felt sure that that surly rogue must be a good safe distance away.
Mr. Meadow Mouse cast a quick glance around. But he could see no place to hide. So there was nothing for him to do but to put on a bold front. He bowed pleasantly enough, though he was trembling a little, and remarked that it was a fine day and that he hoped Grumpy was feeling happy--all of which was quite true.
Grumpy Weasel glowered at Mr. Meadow Mouse, for that was his way of replying to a kindly greeting.
"You've not come here to hunt, I hope," he growled. "I'll have you know that this is my private hunting ground and I allow no poaching."
Mr. Meadow Mouse hastened to explain that he was merely out for a stroll.
"I never hunt," he declared. "Of course, if I happen to see a tiny seed I may stop to eat it. But that's all."
"You'd better be careful what you say!" Grumpy Weasel snapped. "Unless I'm mistaken, you were hunting something the moment you saw me. You were hunting a hole."
Mr. Meadow Mouse gasped slightly. He hardly knew what to say.
"Be very careful where you go around here!" Grumpy Weasel warned him. "The holes in this stone wall are all mine. I shouldn't want you to use a single one of them without my permission."
Mr. Meadow Mouse assured him that he wouldn't dream of trespassing.
"And these holes among the roots of the trees--they are mine too," Grumpy Weasel snarled.
"Oh, certainly! Certainly!" Mr. Meadow Mouse cried. He was so quick to agree that for once Grumpy Weasel couldn't think of anything more to find fault about.
"I'll let you crawl into a few of the smaller holes in the stone wall, if you'll be careful not to hurt them," he offered grudgingly.
Mr. Meadow Mouse made haste to thank him.
He said, however, that he thought he would wait till some other time.
"There's no time like the present," Grumpy Weasel grumbled. "To tell the truth, I want to see if you can squeeze through as small a hole as I can."
SOLOMON OWL INTERRUPTS
Plump little Mr. Meadow Mouse wished he had stayed away from Grumpy Weasel's hunting ground. He would have scampered off, had he not known that Grumpy could overtake him before he had made three leaps. So he saw no way out of his trouble, though he could think of nothing less agreeable than trying to slip through a small hole with Grumpy Weasel close at hand, watching him narrowly.
Then all at once Mr. Meadow Mouse had an idea. "You go first!" he said politely. "Go through any hole you choose and then I'll try my luck."
But Grumpy Weasel was too crafty to do that.
"You'd try your luck at running away," he snarled. "You are the one to go first; and we'll have no words about it."
Well, Mr. Meadow Mouse began to shake more than ever.
"Don't you think," he quavered, "that we'd better wait a few days until I'm a bit smaller? I'm afraid I've been overeating lately and I might get stuck in a hole. And of course that would be awkward."
"Ha, ha!" Grumpy Weasel actually laughed. But it was not what any one could call a hearty, wholesome, cheerful sort of laugh. On the contrary, it sounded very cruel and gloating.
"Hoo, hoo!" Another laugh--this one weird and hollow--boomed out from the hemlock tree just above Mr. Meadow Mouse's head.
He jumped, in spite of himself--did Mr. Meadow Mouse. And so, too, did Grumpy Weasel. Both of them leaped for the old stone wall. And each flashed into a crevice between the stones, though Grumpy Weasel was ever so much the quicker of the two. They knew Solomon Owl's voice too well to mistake his odd laughter.
"What's your hurry, gentlemen?" Solomon called to them.
Mild Mr. Meadow Mouse made no reply. But from Grumpy Weasel's hiding place an angry hiss told Solomon Owl that one of them, at least, had heard his question.
"Come out!" said Solomon Owl. "Don't be shy! I've dined already."
Well, that made the two in the wall feel somewhat bolder. And soon they ventured to peep out and gaze at Solomon, to see whether he looked like a person who had just enjoyed a good meal.
"You're not as hollow as you sound, I hope," Grumpy Weasel remarked with some suspicion in his tone.
As for Mr. Meadow Mouse, he wouldn't dream of making so rude a remark.
"It's a fine evening and I hope you're feeling happy," he piped.
"Oh, very! Very!" said Solomon Owl solemnly.
Mr. Meadow Mouse was a trusting sort of chap. He was all ready to leave his cranny. But Grumpy Weasel was not yet satisfied.
"Which one of us are you answering?" he demanded of Solomon.
"Him!" said Solomon.
"Did you say, 'Ahem?'" Grumpy Weasel wanted to know.
"No, no!" Solomon assured him. "I said, 'him.' I was answering your friend."
Grumpy Weasel made a wry face, as if he did not care to have anybody speak of Mr. Meadow Mouse as a friend of his. And he did not quit the stone wall until he had seen Mr. Meadow Mouse venture forth in safety.
"Just by accident I overheard your remarks a few minutes ago," Mr. Owl explained. "I'd like to watch this hole-crawling contest. And I'll stay here and be the umpire--and see that there's fair play."
MR. MEADOW MOUSE ESCAPES
Grumpy Weasel did not like Solomon Owl's offer to be umpire of the hole-crawling contest between Mr. Meadow Mouse and himself. He hissed a few times and glared at Solomon Owl, up in the hemlock tree.
Solomon Owl did not appear to mind that, but calmly outstared Grumpy Weasel without once blinking. "Are you both ready?" he asked presently.
"Yes, thank you!" Mr. Meadow Mouse answered. And Grumpy Weasel gave a sort of shrug, as if to say that he supposed he was.
"First you may try that hole between those mossy stones," Mr. Owl announced, with a tilt of his head toward the wall.
"Certainly!" cried Mr. Meadow Mouse.
"You go first and I'll follow," Grumpy Weasel told him.
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